You either get an accountant or do your own taxes. I wouldn't recommend seeking any advice here, and there's no point me reiterating what you can already find by Googling. There's a ton of information out there on how you go about things, including plenty of information on the hmrc's own site.

Register as self employed, do tax returns. You have 3 months to register starting from the day you earn your first bit of money.
I would advise putting about 30-40% of your earnings aside each month ready for tax season. If you end up with a smaller bill than you've saved up for you get a nice wedge of cash to play around with.

If you're working with clients rather than a CPA company (for example) I would advise thinking about starting a ltd company. Last thing you want is an unsatisfied customer taking you for all you have.

You've got 3 months to let the tax man know that you're trading or you're up for a fine. As said, get in touch with the tax man, they're really very friendly IF you play straight and they offer a load of info for you to get things right.

I went on a day workshop at my local tax office and got the information I needed to stay legal.

Speaking of which, I've doing my self-assessment in the next few days and I'm ready to pay the bill!

Speak to an accountant to see what you can claim as expenses. e.g. If working from home how much utility bills you can claim. The more you claim as an expense the less tax you pay. Say you use your car for work and please you can claim a % of that too.

You are correct, you cant just dont bother.Its tax evasion and its illegal ofc. Why not bother actually?If you are below the threshold, you pay nothing but you are sticking to the laws and 100% legit professional....

Even if you have zero earnings, you need to submit tax returns. Operating a business is not connected to profits. Dormant companies are still companies for example.

For the cheques, you can :
1.Keep copies of them (photocopies)
2.Have a record of the bank transactions(money flowing in...)

If you leave abroad and your business is abroad, then you need to adhere to your local laws. For the UK for example, a business is liable for UK tax if it is operates in the UK (the bank account is irrelevant).

If you reread my post you'll see that I say: I wouldn't bother. Never said: "not to bother".

But I'll make it clear why I said I wouldn't bother: most people reading this thread will be spending more than they will ever make back - not exactly a definition of a self employed person - more a bankrupt person.

Taxpayers who do not receive a tax return are required to notify chargeability to income tax or capital gains tax

Section 7(1)

Self Assessment is a system for dealing with tax returns and claims. It applies to taxpayers who are identified as requiring a tax return and who are issued with a notice to file or a paper self assessment tax return incorporating a notice to file. It also applies to people who make a claim outside a tax return.

HMRC is not always able to identify who needs a tax return so there is a requirement to notify chargeability. Any person who has not been required to complete a tax return, but who nonetheless has profits or chargeable gains on which tax is due must notify an officer of the Board that they are chargeable to tax.

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Bolding is my emphasis. Only if you ?has profits? or "chargeable gains on which tax is due" which for a person only starts above the threshold allowances for when they are "chargeable to tax". Then you must notify.

Time limit for notification
The time limit for notifying chargeability is six months from the end of the tax year in which the tax liability arises. Notification must be received on or before 5 October.

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You have until the 5th of October in the next tax year, to tell them about tax you owe them in the previous tax year.

Irrelevant here, as when you submit form CT41G, you tell HMRC that the company is not trading, that it is dormant and you don?t have to file a tax return for that period on (but you still have to for the period up to the dormant date). Now if you trade after having told them that the company is dormant (without filing form CT204), than you are breaking the law - which is a completely different situation to a person not filing a tax return when they don?t earn above the threshold.

My point being: It is not tax evasion, when you owe no taxes. Nor is it illegal. Just a technicality. And one from 10+ years of experience, they don't care about.

For those abroad:
As a basic rule: UK tax is territory based, especially for company's (for the most part).
For individuals it's domiciled based - if you spend less than 90 days a tax year in the UK. Then you as an individual owe no tax.

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